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Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I feel like I've been getting a jump start on Valentine's Day with all your fantastic love stories. When I created our first ever Love Story contest, I envisioned a collection of stories celebrating all sorts of love. Boy, did you ever deliver!
You sent along stories of love for a mother, a friend, a sibling, a stranger who helped save a child's love. I can honestly say I love each one of them. Everyone can click over to the Blog page of our social online community to share in the love.
I did say I was going to pick one winner. Now, that's seeming like a really bad idea because I feel like a parent who has to pick a favorite child. But I'll stick to my word.
So the winner is…..
Ross Hays!!!
He's a meteorologist for NASA. How romantic is that? Well, for all you who have a preconceived notion that a scientist type can't be all fuzzy inside, you'll have to check out Ross' love story.
I'll share why it touched my heart after you read it.
To tell my love story you have to go back to when I was in high school. A girl and her family moved to our community in Alabama from Texas. I first saw her leaving the high school high office and the twinkle in her eyes made my heart go pitter patter. It turned out next that my best friend also saw her and asked her out. As someone raised with knowledge of honor and chivalry I remained loyal to my friend and became good friends with the new girl in town while they dated.
When I left home to attend college my parents' nest became empty and they decided to leave the country and do medical mission work. While they were away they had the girl I met, Cindy stay at the house and take care of their dog and cat while they were away.
For the next few years we remained in touch and would meet for dinner or just talk when I would come home. I completed my studies in Criminal Justice and was working in that field when a man offered me a job to work in the weather office at the station he worked at. I enjoyed this so much I decided to go back to school and study meteorology. After talking with several people I decided to go study in New England where I could experience the seasons and a different part of the country.
Before leaving I found out about a concert in Florida where the Beach Boys would be performing on the beach. It is one of the best concerts I ever attended. Cindy & I went together and had such a great time. I was tempted to tell her the feelings I had, but thought it would be wrong to share this and then leave for several months.
During the next few years we lost contact and she moved back to Texas.
The next chapter of my life took me to Atlanta to live and work. Those feelings I had never left my heart. A couple of years later I started trying to locate her. I contacted friends from high school and the most anyone could tell me was that she lived near a lake in Texas, which didn't help much. I then went to the post office of her last known address. It was a small post office and the postmaster had forwarding addresses for several years still on file. He gave me the forwarding address she had left with him. I wrote a long letter telling her what had taken place in my life and asking about what had taken place in her life.
Two days later the phone rings while I am at my parents. My father answered the phone and said Cindy, it is so good to hear your beautiful voice, which I have to totally agree with.
While talking with her I thought she called because of the letter, but she hadn't received it yet. She was calling looking for me. The letter arrived later that day.
On Valentine's Day weekend we met that year and stated long distance dating. Eighteen months later we were married. We have now been together for more than 21 years. I feel blessed and thankful.
So there you have it. Are you saying, "Ahhhhhh!"?
I love Ross' story because it supports one of my big tenants in life. That is, "You can't screw up the right one; can't make the wrong one work."
Basically, it means, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. I find it to be true in finding love, jobs, homes, whatever.
In Ross and Cindy's case, their love was meant to be. No best friend, missed opportunity, distance, or time could change that. I celebrate them, their love, and all of you on this Valentine's weekend!
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